Chapter 2
Amelia padded out to the kitchen for the third time that week, and began bringing out what she needed. It didn't take a genius to know she wasn't okay. That night she found Peter struggling under the ruins had triggered something, and her bedroom had begun to feel a little too small. As predicted, Peter joined her moments later and she pushed a mug over.
"You should tell aunt May." He said.
"There's no need."
"Oh, come on. Meels, you haven't had a good night's sleep since... You need to do something about it."
"No, I don't." She said stubbornly.
"Please?"
"I'm not bothering aunt May with my screwed up brain." She hissed.
"Your brain is not screwed up." He retorted.
"I'm fine, Peter. I have to be. So leave it at that."
"You made me tell aunt May because you were afraid for my safety, right?" She nodded slowly. "Well, I'm offering you the same courtesy. I'm worried about you, so either you tell aunt May or I'm going to. I'll give you the week."
He took the mug and left. She pulled a face at his back before drinking her hot cocoa.
"What's this for? It's not my birthday, is it?" Stark asked as she set down a box of muffins and cookies.
"Peter was annoying me and drove me to stress baking. Aunt May said I have to get rid of them so, here." He picked a cookie out and took a bite.
"Add a cookie or five to the lunchbox and I'll give you a raise." He said.
"Only if the raise comes in the form of cash, because aunt May really will think I'm engaging in illegal activities." She said.
"Deal."
"Tony, I may be-" Amelia looked up as the voice paused. "Sorry, internship day. I forgot."
"Hi, Miss Potts." Amelia greeted. "Want a baked treat?"
"That does look appealing. Maybe just one." She smiled, setting the stack of forms she was carrying in front of Tony and grabbing a muffin. "Sign, now."
"I can't sign something without looking at it."
"You have looked at it. You said you would sign them later. It's later, sign."
"But I have to give my full attention to the child in the lab with dangerous equipment."
"That's okay. We're still doing coding. I can stick to the computer."
"You're supposed to be my minion."
"I don't like you." She said with a shrug. "I'll betray you every chance I get."
"Any then bake me cookies?"
"Maybe I'm just trying to establish a rapport. Make you trust me and slip poison into them one day." He rolled his eyes.
"Friday, monitor princess Lauranna and let me know if she tries to buy poison. Or if a huge chunk of poison-worth money suddenly goes missing from her."
"I'll do it in irregular instalments of different sizes." She said.
"Tony, sign. Amelia, I share your frustrations, but please don't plot out how you plan to kill your boss out loud. He'll take precautions and you won't succeed."
"Noted." She said, and then turned to her work, silently.
She didn't speak up again until Miss Potts was ready to go, surfacing for a quick goodbye before turning back to the computer in front of her.
"Want to blow something up?" Stark asked, after maybe a moment of silence.
"No." She said.
"That's sacrilege. The answer is always yes."
"Why don't you go blow something up and then return? Friday can probably keep an eye on me."
"I have to be some sort of responsible adult."
"Eat your cookies then." She didn't look at him.
"Fine." She heard him shuffle around, and then heard him munch loudly. "What college do you want to go to?"
"Depends what I get into."
"I say MIT."
"I'll probably apply to Stanford." She contradicted just for the sake of it. "Besides, Peter's got dibs on MIT and I've managed to avoid school with him all my life, I'm not about to start now."
"Don't lie, you just want to disappoint me."
"Sure, that's the reason." She snorted.
"And how many siblings do you have again?"
"Seven." She answered before realising her mistake. "Fine, you won that."
"Seven? And no record of you existing?"
"Maybe there is a record. Maybe it's just not available to you."
"WitSec?" He asked.
"Sure, let's go with that. It might not be that inaccurate considering the current climate."
"Ridiculous!" He said. "This is what I mean. You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?"
She shrugged. "I thought you were gonna stop trying to dig into my background."
"I haven't been looking into any records." He promised. "But I want to know."
"Really? I hadn't gotten that with how many times the topic of conversation seems to veer into questions about my past."
"Tell me about your siblings. Are you the youngest?" Amelia shook her head. "Are you the only girl?" She shook her head again. "Your brother Bill is the oldest, right?" She nodded.
"I can always leave, Anthony." She snapped, and he stopped.
"So what did Peter do to stress you out so much?" He asked, grabbing another cookie.
"You're really incapable of not speaking, aren't you?"
"Yes." He agreed. "What did he do?"
"None of your business."
"Cranky." He teased. "How is it going?"
"Now you want to do the supervision thing you're supposed to have been doing?"
"I can go back to pestering you about what happened with Peter if you'd like?"
"I think I've worked it out." She agreed to changing the subject.